The Pharaoh's Names
by cariteas
Summary: Iset overhears a conversation about someone wanting to assasinate the Pharaoh. What should she do now? Who would believe her..? She tries to get through to Pharaoh to warn him. The King takes a liking to the girl but what keeps them apart is the fact that someone tries to kill the King: it could as well be one of his friends.


She could feel tension in the air all around her, adding to the density of the situation she found herself in. Men running down the halls, slamming doors behind them, other men opened them to slam then once more. Nothing here was coordinated. Even she could tell, a little girl too young to understand what was going on in the palace in the first place. She has been fine only looking at the carpets hanging on the walls around her in the wide hallway, colourful fabric painted with animals, flowers. Monkeys jumping from one tree to another painted so skilfully and detailed, it felt as though as they were alive!

The girl could practically smell the flowers painted on the carpets, the lotus especially, painted in the brightest white. As the girl's eyes were glued to Isis herself holding a lotus flower in her hand, not noticing anything that happens around her, someone almost ran her over. Eyes wide she looks at a man carrying a heavy pot of water, glaring at her and shouting.

"You're in the way, child! Go outside where you can't bother us." Overwhelmed, unable to respond to the man, she can only watch him run along the hallway shouting to the guards standing at the sides: but she couldn't understand one word he said. She was left wondering when her father would finally come back: Imhotep had told his daughter to wait for him until he would come back, but so much time has passed already...

She decided to listen to what the man said earlier, looks to her left where the door leading out into the garden was opened wide, letting in a warm, gentle breeze. here the heavenly smell of flowers came from, too! With quick steps she walks through the door and into the garden, hidden from the eyes of curious citizens by high walls made of stone. The grass tickled her, making her feel relieved, light as a feather, as if nothing could ever go wrong. Life was easy when the sun shone down upon your hair, your skin, when the soft breeze made the high temperatures of Egypt bearable. Soon the flood would come! this warmth was a very good sign, she knew.

he girl looked around the garden, saw sycamores growing high, almost reaching the heaven, their Tleaves spread wide creating huge spots of shadows on the ground. The pond in the middle of the garden was only so little, and the water barely visible: lilypads covered the surface almost entirely. She could only take a couple of steps before she heard a small meow from somewhere on the ground- eagerly she looks around, turning left and right, until she saw a whole bunch of cats stretching their limbs on the grass, yawning, meowing, purring. Two of them were black, kissed by the night. the other two red. Sun-kissed, their fur shining so beautifully.

Her heart melted slowly watching the little creatures rolling around to her feet, shouting and yelling from the palace sounded so far away as if it came from another world: it didn't matter so much anymore. Her father would surely find her, he knows his way around the palace and has been working here for many, many years, as long as she could remember. The cats though, they caught all her attention, meowed at her, blinked at her affectionately and she dares taking a few steps closer. Eager to pet them, to feel their warm fur under her fingertips. As she bent down but before she could stretch her hand out, she heard a voice from behind.

"Those are mine! Don't touch them!" startled she turned around, slowly so, her face felt uncomfortably hot from the shame... but she had only wanted to pet them!  
"I'm sorry...", she says quietly, her eyes lowered. She looks at the other's feet, noticed sandals made of leather. "Did they tell you to get outside, too?" she asks, curious, dares rise her head up to meet the stranger's gaze. How funny his hair looked! The boy didn't seem much older than her, he's a good foot smaller than she is, but his hair surely made up for that. He wears a white linen dress, held together at the waist with a broad golden belt: around the neck he wore a golden collar decorated with various colorful beads.

"They can't tell me to go outside," the boy begins solemnly, "I wanted to check up on my cats anyway." She steals a glance at the cats in the grass, some stretching to their full length exposing their bellies. "Hm... You can pick one. If you want." He noticed how she looked at them! He noticed her clothing. That she didn't wear sandals, no jewelry. That she wore her own hair and not a wig as it was expected: and Atem wonders why she was here in the palace while all these things were happening. Though he did not ask, he wanted to make up for how ru

de he has been with the girl, despite never even asking for her name.  
"Are you sure!? Can you... just give me one?" She'd gasped, looking from the cats to Atemu and back. Her heart beats madly in her chest, excited and happy and she thinks he could easily hear it over the distance.

"I can do everything I want," Atemu responds; he sounds so sad, "I can." Pity she felt bending down to pick up one of the fiery red cats, holding it safely in both her arms. It struggled, at first, but began to purr loudly upon being petted softly.  
"Thank you, A-"

From within the palace a voice came, louder than any other before, chanting one sentence.  
"The falcon has flown to the sky!"

Atemu turned his back to the girl, tried hiding the little tears rolling down his cheeks. Don't thank me, he thought, you picked my favourite cat! But...

"I'm the Pharaoh now..."


End file.
